According to the data from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP), 40 new officially confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in Tajikistan yesterday, bringing a total number of the officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country to 11,689 as of the evening of November 17.

The number of coronavirus-linked deaths remains the same in the country – 85, a MoHSPP says.

88 COVID-19 patients were reportedly discharged after recovery yesterday. In all, 11,061 coronavirus patients have reportedly recovered in the country as of the evening of November 17. 

The COVID-19 pandemic in Tajikistan is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).  The virus was confirmed to have spread to Tajikistan when its index cases, in Dushanbe and Khujand, were confirmed on April 30, 2020.       

Meanwhile, Eurasianet says the coronavirus crisis has served as one of reasons to leave Tajikistan. One Dushanbe resident, Subhiya, told Eurasianet that she was prompted to pack her bags by what she perceives as the government’s indifference to the outbreak.

“I studied in London, but returned to Tajikistan to work for the good of the country, although I could, like other compatriots, have stayed there. But during COVID, the behavior of the authorities just killed all my feelings; human life is worth nothing in this country,” Subhiya said.

Subhiya referred to how medics in high-risk zones were forced to work with the sick without protective equipment, and how those same doctors and nurses were not even provided food and medicine when they fell sick.

Health Ministry figures and assertions on the current situation with the COVID-19 outbreak have long ceased to be credible and useful, leaving the rumor mill and activists to pick up the slack in assessing the scale of the damage, Eurasianet said, noting that it is believed many dozens of doctors have succumbed to the virus, but such claims are impossible to verify.